West Virginia

TEAM for West Virginia Children (TEAM) works with communities and families to advance the well-being of children, making their needs and healthy development a priority. TEAM partners with an integrated network of programs to advocate for children, champions family-friendly communities, educate the public, and strengthen families. They convene a Legislative Action Team of the state’s leading organizations to monitor pending legislation and advocate for policies and legislative proposals that benefit children.

State Ally:

With Support From:

Top Priorities for 2021

Enact Paid Family and Medical Leave for all West Virginia workers.

Preserve funding for early childhood programs, including childcare and early childhood home visitation programs, despite projected budget shortfall for state budget.

Expand Medicaid coverage to one year postpartum for women up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

West Virginia’s 2020 Early Childhood Policy Landscape and Progress:

$4.82B STATE BUDGET
Estimated FY20 State General Fund Expenditures

ALIGNED GOVERNMENT
House (R), Senate (R),
Governor (R)

49% LOW-INCOME
82,616 Young Children (0-8) are Below 200% FPL

West Virginia’s session ended in early March before the pandemic became a major issue in the state. TEAM for West Virginia Children and fellow advocates built unprecedented bipartisan support for Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) and Medicaid Expansion for up to one year postpartum, but these bills died in the House Finance Committee. PFML was enacted at local level for public employees in West Virginia’s most populated county. TEAM and collaborating partners are celebrating wins for foster care reform and child welfare.

HB4559 helps prevent child sexual abuse by extending statute of limitations for civil actions for victims and holding institutions accountable.
HB4378 revokes teacher licensure for educators who abuse students or groom students for sexual abuse.
HB4773 addresses Adverse Childhood Experiences and implements trauma-informed practices. A workgroup will develop a plan for expanded screening of childhood experiences in primary care settings and trauma-informed clinical responses.
HB4092 provides for comprehensive foster care reform legislation with $17M invested to better support children and families in the child welfare system and expand investments in child abuse prevention.
SB749 requires Bureau for Public Health (BPH) to submit maternal mortality data to the CDC, permits peer-review report to be made to birth hospital, requires Review Panel to annually report on factors impacting maternal and infant mortality, and requires BPH to do multiyear analysis to recommend system change to reduce maternal and infant deaths.
West Virginia state child welfare agency included expansion of home visiting in Family First Prevention Services Act Prevention Plan. The agency increased grant funds provided to Family Resource Centers during past year, many of which are implementing early childhood home visitation programs in their communities.

State Budget Data: National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), “Table 4: Fiscal 2020 State General Fund, Estimated (Millions); The Fiscal Survey of the States.” Spring, 2020

Low-Income Data (including disaggregation by race): National Center for Children in Poverty, “NCCP Analysis of ACS 1-year Estimates—Public Use Microdata Sample, 2019.”

State Action Data: Provided by state advocates, October-November 2020, with analysis and synthesis by Frontera Strategy for Alliance for Early Success, “Protecting Progress and Investing in Scale: The 2020 50-State Progress Report on Early Childhood Education Policy.”

Additional State Actions: Mincic, Melissa, Early Care and Education, State Budget Actions, Fiscal Year 2020. National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), October 2020.

The Alliance for Early Success is achieving large-scale, long-lasting change for the state’s young children by providing our allies with powerful advantages that help them shape West Virginia early childhood policy.

Strategic, Outcomes-Focused Investments
Consulting and Strategy
Direct Access to National Expertise
Rapid Response Support
Connections/Access to Allies in Similar States
Roles in National Communities of Practice